One of the UK’s leading contemporary composers, Poppy arrived at ZTT in 1984 having studied under John Cage and founded the avant-garde collective The Lost Jockey (Crepsecule/Operation Twilight). He went on to successfully straddle two worlds: orchestral compositions on one hand; left field pop collaborations (Psychic TV, Coil, Nitzer Ebb) on the other.

Andrew Poppy on Zang Tumb Tuum compiles all of the key tracks from both Poppy’s ZTT albums – The Beating of Wings (1985) and Alphabed (1987). Rare remixes, alternate takes and B-sides are also included, all of which are available for the first time on CD. A completely unreleased third album, which has been locked in the ZTT vaults since 1988, is on a third disc. A ‘mini book’ is also included, containing a biography, new interviews with the composer, bibliography and discography.

Highlights of the box set include Cadenza, a 14-minute recording of Poppy’s breakthrough composition; The Impossible Net, which places him squarely at the recent convergence between classical and electronics; Kink Kong Adagio – industrial downtempo from before the genre was so named; Inside The Wolf, Poppy’s theme for Channel 4’s The Tube; The Passage, a completely unreleased and mesmerising suite from Poppy’s very last session for ZTT.

Some pieces are performed by a full orchestra, others just by ship-yard samples. Guest musicians include Ashley Slater (Norman Cook), Joceyln Pook (Real World), and Annette Peacock (Salvador Dali) and certain tracks have been notably sampled – in one way or another – by the likes of Ninja Tune’s DJ Food, Boards of Canada and Warp Records’ Max Tundra.

This is the definitive view of Andrew Poppy as a progenitor of avant-garde composition, minimalism and early electronica.